Deja Vu Aura Seizure and Tonic Clonic Causes??

Topic:

Hello. I've posted before. You all have been very helpful. After my last set of deja vu aura seizures and grand mal seizure my neuro was unable to find anything on EEG. I went for two months without any brain abnormalities. This Sunday I had a few deja vu aura's and then a grand mal. I've never been diagnosed with epilepsy. No tests have every shown anything and it wasn't until the doctor saw me have a second grand mal in the ER that my neuro prescribed Keppra. 500mg day and night. Ive been on in since monday. I had a deja vu aura a few hours ago. I'll be talking to my neuro in the morning..... here are my questions for you...

are there actual reasons for seizures to start in adults? I don't drink, never done drugs. My aunt had childhood petite mal seizures that stopped at age 17. I rarely drink anything but water. I know someone who has seizures when they get dehydrated.........? What are other reasons that people develope epileptic seizures in adulthood??

Any ideas are welcome.. thanks

Sarah

Comments

Hi, a lot of people have normal EEGs and meis and still have epilepsy. Epilepsy itself is not a disease perse, but rather, a conglomerate of symptoms whose causes can be unknown for most. Epilepsy is abnormal activity on the brain, the causes range from traumatic brain injury, to brain tumors, from metabolic and hormonal imbalances to effects from a stroke, from difficult birth to scar tissue caused by meningitis, encephalitis or childhood fevers. To some are genetic, others have physiological structural abnormalities of the brain, for some it is unknown. Yes, for some there is no answers as to why, that accounts for most actually. Neurology is a vastly unknown and undiscovered field. The truth is neurology research is complex and expensive and epilepsy research always gets the shaft, as no one seem to care, they are afraid, embarrassed etc. few people understand or care, ironically, epilepsy affects more people than cancer.

Good questions... The doctor saw you in a grand mal seizure and you have had them before. It is a given that if a person has 2 seixures they can be determined eipleptic. There are many different things that can cause epilepsy. As for EEG's not showing anything I had 15-20 before ever having further testsing. I was tesetd for a week and the last EEG i fell asleep. That EEG had abnormalities ( seizure activities)..

My epilepsy is caused by scared brain tissue which is from a hemmorage to the brain between the age of 6-8. A blow to the head can cause hemmorages so if you had a car accident and hit your head hard you could have gotten one. .You stated your aunte has pettite mal when she was young. My cousin had seizures when she was young and she grew out of them.

I have been taking AED's for 50+ years. In the stone age the meds were created to calm down the entire central nervious system. Basically those meds were all downers. In the 1980's is when they started branching off into specialties.That is also when most medication companies started creating medications which were for types of seizures. The newer meds work and I like them. Keppra is one of the best medications I have been on. It has reduced the number of seizures. The length of time in the seizures and the time it takes to get back to normal.

The ammount of keppra you are taking is fine but they may increase the dosage. I had already been on AED's so I was started a lot higher than what yu are taking. I take 3-750 mg tabs morning and night. Which is the maximum dosage. We have added vimpat and the dosage I am taking is 150 mg morning and night. Understand that hte dosages a person takes is like a seizure a person has each one is different with each person.

A seizure is basically an elecrtical impulse going off in the brain wrong causine a chani reaction. Think of it like a set of dominos all lined up. Tap the first domino and watch tehm fall one hitting the other. If you want them to stop put your finger between 2 and the chanin reaction stops. meaning the dominos stop falling. Now look at medications and fingers they stop the chain reaction.

I was diagnosed with epilepsy after what I thought was my first gran mal seizure a year ago (at age 45). After 2 EEGs and much discussion with my wonderful doctors over the last year, I now understand that I have had epilepsy all of my life. Interestingly, I have always been very psychic, so when the docs told me that deja vu feelings, and smelling things that weren't there, etc., were auras, I was really confused. Always, the smells I sensed were actually connected to something really happening. For example, I smelled my grandmother's perfume at the instant she died, though I didn't get the news until the following day, and lived thousands of miles away.

I have had normal EEGs both times. I seem to only have seizures of the gran mal type while taking naps, or possibly in my sleep. If no one is there to see it, and I wake up normally, the only way I can tell if I've had a seizure is if there are pains in my face, bruises, or loss of bladder control.

This last EEG came up with the most fascinating thing I've ever heard of: Epilepsy- Psychic Type. I thought the doctor was making that up to appease me, but I found it in a textbook, and it is a real diagnosis. I still don't know how to sort out what I always thought was a cool psychic ability vs. just symptoms of a disease in my brain. I guess there's no difference. I am glad I found out I had epilepsy, because up until now, everyone has thought I was nuts, or mentally ill.

I don't think I answered your question , but since you mentioned deja vu as a possible aura, I wrote. I am still very confused about what an aura is, given that I have psychic phenomenom happen all day long, every day. I asked my doctor, Does that mean I am having small seizures all day?" The most recent answer I got from my Dr.s was "Yes."